This bill will replace the existing interpreter registration process with a licensing process, effective June 30, 2000. There will be 2 levels of licensure, limited and certified. Applicants for limited licensure must have 100 hours of instruction in American Sign Language or be certified as having equivalent skills, and must have 100 hours of instruction in the interpreting process. Applicants for certified licensure must show proof of national certification as an interpreter or transliterator. Licensees will be held to a code of ethics.

All persons who are registered under current law when this bill becomes effective will be eligible for limited licensure. Those persons will have 3 years from the date of their licensure to meet the standard education and training requirements if they have not already done so.

This bill excludes practitioners of cued speech from the definition of "interpreter" for purposes of the chapter. The intent is to not regulate practitioners of cued speech at this time.